2019 AMS Annual Meeting

This week’s 99^th AMS Annual Meeting is shaping up to be one of our biggest ever. Yet the healthy numbers—the 3,700 attendees, 3,100 presentations, nearly 100 exhibitors—are just one sign of the growing power of the AMS Annual Meeting. As the largest gathering of its kind, this event is a unique incubator of opportunities for attendees. It is therefore fitting that this AMS meeting will be one of the most innovative we’ve experienced.

Thanks to the dedication of the thousands of presenters and hundreds of volunteers, this meeting is destined for success despite the unfortunate federal government shutdown that has sidelined a number of our valued colleagues. We can’t fail to marvel that the finest scientists from many countries and many disciplines have stepped up with a gratifying resilience this week for a meeting dedicated to a theme of “understanding and building resilience.” David Goldston’s Presidential Forum presentation today, which is focused on government affairs, could not be better timed. We are indeed fortunate that Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academy of Science, has taken time out of her busy schedule on Monday to explain how science informs and advises our nation.

They exemplify our Society’s—and indeed our science’s—visionary purposes at a special moment in AMS history, and not just because this is the meeting that kicks off our 100^th Anniversary celebrations. Rather it is because we are dedicating this centennial to meeting the challenges of the next century. Every one of the 3,700 professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, and students here in Phoenix is a participant in the collective voice AMS raises for a world with a better future based on scientific understanding.